News

We have a new member joining us at the Coalition: Circle Advocacy, founded by Judy Korik Weinstock, a practicing physician and patient advocate. Judy spoke to us about the experiences that drove her to create this organization, dedicated to supporting patient agency and well-being.

We are excited to announce four new member organizations to our Coalition! 

• All Care VNA & Hospice
• Interstitial Lung Disease Collaborative
• Sewa Home Care
• Circle Advocacy

Our members are working towards our shared goals in many different ways, strengthening communication, collaboration, and connection.  Read more about these organizations and why they have chosen to partner with us.

In 2016, the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care (MCSIC) was formed through a collaboration of local healthcare, advocacy, and academic institutions. The mission of the organization is “to strengthen the communication, collaboration, and connection between the healthcare system and communities, and between patients and clinicians, to support what matters most to everyone seeking care, especially people living with serious illness” (MCSIC, 2022). The MCSIC convened a nursing taskforce comprised of faculty and community leaders to strengthen nurses’ abilities and confidence to provide high-quality, inclusive, and equitable care for people living with serious illness in Massachusetts. The goal of this group was to be a leader in preparing and educating all nurses in palliative care and serious illness communication...

A couple weeks ago, I was on a panel about the intersection of spirituality and serious illness care. I was one of the speakers reacting to a landmark meta analysis, published in JAMA, led by Tracy Balboni, a researcher and radiation oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. It found high quality evidence that spiritual care was broadly associated with better serious illness outcomes. (Probably not a surprise to all of you.) The whole evening left me buzzing on a million ideas, but I was especially struck by two things:

We're thrilled to announce our Nursing Resources website, which was developed by our Nursing Taskforce Resources Workgroup. They identified and vetted resources for faculty to incorporate into teaching materials. From case studies to podcasts, journal articles to videos, most of the resources are free and we provide recommendations on how to bring them into the classroom, exam room, and patient room. Join us for a webinar to learn about navigating the website and we'll share some of our favorite resources on Tues, 2/28, 12-12:45pm ET on Zoom.

In case you missed it, MessageLab launched the Serious Illness Messaging Toolkit with evidence-based messaging for serious illness care. What evidence is it based on? It's based, in part, on our Coalition's consumer research! The Toolkit has FREE resources for you to download, including specific language that's been tested with consumers to talk about palliative care, hospice, and advance care planning. It also features stories, worksheets, quick start guides, and more!

Inspired by recent study, Divinity School panelists explore the spiritual side of health care. Making patients feel psychologically safe about discussing their spirituality is key, said panelist Anna Gosline, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care.

Another big step for the transition to a MA POLST Program - RFR for electronic registry released! You might have noticed, but in case you missed it, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, on behalf of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA), Department of Public Health, and the Mass HIway has issued a Request for Responses (RFR) to procure a vendor to implement, maintain, and support the Massachusetts ePOLST registry. The Coalition will be holding a virtual event on Friday, March 17th from 11am- 12pm ET to give you a broader sense of what’s happening with the transition from MOLST to POLST and answer any questions.

We’re excited to share the news that Governor Baker recently signed Bill H.5374 “An Act Relating to Economic Growth and Relief for the Commonwealth,” which included language authorizing the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) to lead and administer the update of the Massachusetts MOLST program to a POLST (Portable Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) Program aligned with national standards, including the development of a POLST e-Registry.